Catching up: Lowe, Smoltz, Pettitte

In the past few weeks a few big moves have gone down. A trio of vetrans signed. The Red Sox signed John Smoltz, the Braves signed Derek Lowe, the Yankees signed Andy Pettite, and yes, Manny Ramirez is still a free agent. 

The Smoltz signing if obviously a high risk high reward deal. Smoltz was one of, if not the best pitcher in baseball before he got hurt last year. He was flat out dominant putting up 36/8 K/BB in 28 innings. Smoltz has beem similarly dominant for the past few years. In 2007 he put up a 197/47 K/BB ratio and in 2006 it was 211/55. The problem is his health. Coming into 2008 he had been healthy for a couple of years and we were hoping it would continue, however by May he was out for the season. Smoltz says he plans to pitch in relief again, which should help him stay healthy. I’m not sold on the idea as I think Smoltz could stay healthy as a starter and of course would contribute a lot more to the team. 

The Braves may have lost Smoltz but they did sign Derek Lowe. As I have detailed in previous posts I really like Lowe. He has the ability to keep the ball on the ground (and in the park) but can also put up a very good K/BB rate. He would probably have suffered moving from the NL to the AL but he’s staying in the NL and moving to another good pitchers park so his value should stay about the same. 

Finnaly the Yankees signed Andy Pettitte to a $5.5 million deal. That by itself is fine. Pettitte was a solid pitcher last year and he could take a rotation spot that would otherwise be filled by either Ian Kennedy or Phil Hughes. Signing Pettite gives the Yankees the option to find out what they have in Hughes and Kennedy and figure out whot they want in the rotatoin. They just have more depth. The problem is that if he pitches 200 mediocore innings and doesn’t hit the DL he would make upwards of $11 million, something he is deffinetly not worth. I’m also worried this will land Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen, which would obviously not be the right move. Best case Joba and Hughes get about 15 starts each in that final spot and one of them fills in while Pettitte takes a stint on the DL.